The Spymaster's Protection (4 page)

With relief, Gabrielle heard the disdain in his voice for her
father and husband. "I have absolutely no interest in the political
intrigues of our precarious kingdom. I do know that Saladin is growing in
strength, while we bicker and fight over who should rule. Sadly, we have very
poor choices since Baldwin the IV died."

Lucien stared at her appreciatively. "For someone who has
absolutely no interest
in court intrigue, you at least know who the
players are."

"How could I not? My husband is being called a kingmaker.
I live in Jerusalem now, not at Kerak. And I am at court frequently. Queen
Sibylla is a generous patron of the orphanage."

"An interesting woman," he commented, thoroughly
intrigued by the unusual woman beside him.

"Mayhap the men in this kingdom should have let her rule
on her own. I have heard she wanted to marry Guy of Lusignan, but few women have
any true choices in marriage."

"Maybe princesses do. She and her mother certainly
badgered Baldwin for many months to get his permission to marry Lord
Lusignan."

Gabrielle gave him an icy look. "Well, most noblewomen
are sold into marriage, sometimes one after another, from the age of
fourteen."

"Is that how old you were, mi'lady?" Lucien asked
gently, knowing he should not care.

"Aye."

God's blood! Lucien thought. Reynald would have been two score
and five, thirty years older than this young woman! The practice of arranged
and bartered marriage had never seemed so abhorrent to Lucien as it did now.
Undoubtedly, her father had gained a great deal from the arrangement. Lucien
knew he had been minister to King Amalric, and had been gifted with the small
fief of Transjordan and the castle of Kerak before Amalric's death. Since
Reynald had married this heiress, he had more than tripled the fief, for it was
now one of the biggest and most strategic in Palestine. Lord Chaumont was a
wealthy and even more powerful man now than he had been a decade and a half
ago.

"You are very straightforward about your feelings, lady.
That is uncommon."

"And unwelcomed, no doubt."

"Not at all. It is most pleasing to me. Lies and
subterfuge compose my life. I have grown weary of them."

Gabrielle stared at him, surprised and intrigued. She wondered
what he did for the Order, but decided not to ask, as she barely knew him.
"Well, I doubt you should be conversing with me, frère," she finally
concluded. "Your brothers seem a bit perplexed by it." Her eyes
shifted to where his men stood near their horses, eating and drinking, but
watching them as well. "Templars are forbidden from fraternizing with
women, are they not? Are we not too sinful and tempting for any of you to even be
near?"

Lucien responded with a bark of laughter. "So I am
constantly reminded, though it is a practice more suited to words than
deeds."

Gabrielle frowned, and he elaborated.

"We are more soldiers than monks. We are not all
cloistered away in moldy, secluded monasteries. We cannot completely distance
ourselves from women. Though we are to have no regular discourse with them, it
happens occasionally.”

She wondered if he was a Templar true to all of his monastic
vows. While she had lived at Kerak with Reynald, she’d met many who were not
men of good and holy repute. She felt compelled to find out more about this
one.

“How long have you been in Outremer, Brother Lucien?"

“For over a decade, maybe too long," he replied with a
weary note in his voice. "I, too, was an orphan. Both of my parents died
when our keep was razed by my mother's people. I was taken in by a Templar
friend of my father's. I grew to adulthood in one of their preceptories in
Iberia."

"You mention your mother's people," she ventured. "Are
you not a Frank?"

"My father was French. My mother was a Berber Moor from
Morocco. They met when he went to Spain to aid the Iberian king’s reconquest.
After he and a contingent of Templars took my mother's brother's holding, he
married her and stayed to be appointed baron there."

She sniffed. "So your mother was a spoil of war?"

"Maybe at first, but my father loved her dearly, and died
at her side, defending the home they had recreated together."

Gabrielle dropped her head in embarrassment, unable to hold
his piercingly dark stare. "I am sorry. I had no right to assume…."

"’Tis of no consequence," he interrupted.
"Where do you come from, lady?"

"I was born in Antioch," she volunteered with a
smile, in an attempt to seek absolution for her rudeness. "My father came
over with King Louis VII on the Second Crusade. He married my mother, who was
born of a French crusader family resettled in Antioch. He and Reynald actually
took up the cross together in France. My mother died when I was
ten
, after we had moved into the castle at Kerak.”

Lucien stared at her for a long time, then pushed to his feet.
"I suppose we should be on our way, else we will not make Jerusalem by
nightfall."

Gabrielle let him help her to her feet and smiled warmly at
him. "Thank you for the meal and the conversation, Brother Lucien. Both
were most enjoyable.”

“It has been my pleasure.” His dark eyes followed her as she
rounded up the children who were playing near the wagon, deciding that despite
the scowling glances from his brothers, he had thoroughly enjoyed his encounter
with Reynald de Châtillon’s wife.

CHAPTER
3

They rode into Jerusalem through David's Gate since it was
nearly a straight path to the headquarters of the Hospitallers. Past the mighty
Tower of David, they traveled along the crowded streets of the great city,
carving a path through the throngs of people filling them.

Gabrielle was grateful for the canvas top of the wagon that
hid her and the children from prying eyes. If her husband learned of her
conspicuity, riding through the city with a wagonload of orphaned children,
surrounded most visibly by the white cloaked Knights of the Temple, he would be
immensely displeased. Her undertakings were of no concern to him, as long as
she refrained from embarrassing him.

Her infamous husband's rules applied to everyone but himself.
He had long ago set her aside for his mistress. And while she cared not a whit
about the arrangement, and was, in fact, relieved to be released from her
husband's heavy-handed attentions and lascivious appetites, she was frequently
reminded of his embarrassing conduct by some of the tongue-waggers at court.

Still, she always tried to conduct her activities as
inconspicuously as possible.

The Jerusalem commandery of the Knights of the Hospital of
Saint John was a sprawling quadrant of buildings. The Church of the Holy
Sepulcher stood at the north end of the square, while to the south, the monks'
religious house had absorbed the monastery of Saint Anne. The entire complex
had been built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist.

It included a great hall that was so enormous, it could hold
two thousand pilgrims and several hundred knights. Across from that, was the
large orphanage that was run by the brothers and the sisters of Saint John the
Baptist. The hospital stood next to it.

It was operated on an astounding scale, providing every
comfort and luxury for the patients it cared for. The Hospitallers believed
every man, woman, and child was the Savior, and that it was their Christian
duty to serve them as such. They took in everyone who needed care, regardless
of race, creed, or gender. The brothers and sisters who served there believed
the sick only got better when they were well fed and cared for.

The infirmary was always crowded, and in need of caring hands.
Gabrielle frequently volunteered her time there, as well as at the orphanage.
Pilgrims were always welcome at the hospice. The serving brothers of the
Hospital worked alongside their Benedictine counterparts in both the hospice
and the orphanage.

The order was split between those who served in the hospital
and those who served militarily, but there were some military brothers who did
both. Their rules were much more relaxed than the Templars, but they still
answered to the same vows, including the promise to protect the Holy Land.

Both were viewed as the only stable standing armies in
Outremer, and both swore their first and foremost allegiance to the Pope.
Gabrielle was able to move freely among the brothers of the Hospital. The only
area off limits to her was their personal living quarters and dining hall.
Otherwise, she had unhindered access to their church, hospice, hospital, and
orphanage. Once the wagon came to a halt in their immense, open courtyard, she
climbed down out of it, and was immediately greeted by her friend of five
years, Brother Giles de Chancery. Though he was a knight and a soldier, he
frequently worked with the infirm and homeless.

She gave the tall lanky monk a warm smile as he rushed up to
take her hands in both of his. "Lady Gabrielle! How very good to see you
have arrived safely," he exclaimed. "I see you have brought us more
needy little ones," he noted as he lifted each of the six children down
with a happy chuckle. "But what have you done now? Enlisted the support of
our haughty white-robed brothers?" His keen brown eyes swept the
assortment of Templars, some mounted, some dismounting.

"No, Brother Giles," she laughed. "They came
upon us as we were being attacked by bandits. I was traveling with a caravan of
newly arrived pilgrims and merchants. They had not enlisted an armed guard, so
we were most fortunate to be rescued by these kind Templars."

Brother Giles was an openly friendly man, with a ready smile
for nearly everyone. His sandy colored hair and beard complimented a fair
skinned face, reddened by years in the desert, but not tanned by it.

As Brother Lucien came around to the back of the wagon, the
Englishman grinned and slapped his thigh. "By the Holy Lance! Brother
Lucien! Ne'er would I thought to see you driving a wagon full of orphaned
tots!" he laughed uproariously. "However did you get involved with
our intrepid Lady de Châtillon?"

"By happenstance, actually, Brother Giles." Lucien
greeted the man he had known for many years with a good-natured slap on the
shoulder. "It is as the lady said. We were out on a routine patrol and
came across her caravan being attacked. There had been no reports of bandits
raiding along the cursed road, so we were taken a bit by surprise."

"I believe God may have answered my prayer for a guardian
angel," Gabrielle responded with an appreciative look at Brother Lucien.
"If not for him, I believe the children and I would be dead.”

"Then we owe him a great debt of gratitude," Brother
Giles announced, waving a hand toward the orphanage. "These children would
feel a huge void in their lives if not for our lady."

"So I am beginning to understand," Lucien replied,
assessing Gabrielle with open admiration. "I do not approve of her
traveling these roads without escort, though. There may come a day when God's
angels are busy and unavailable to come to her aid."

"So we are trying to convince her," the Hospitaller
concurred.

Gabrielle tossed her friend a mutinous look, then turned her attention
to the children. "I believe I shall get the children settled in. Thank you
very much for aiding us, frère, and God bless you and keep you safe."

"Mi'lady, should we not escort you to your home after you
have settled the children in?" Lucien inquired as she turned to walk away.

"We will see her safely home when she is finished
here," Brother Giles interceded. "May I offer you some refreshments
after your dusty journey, Brothers?"

Lucien looked to his brothers and saw that they appeared eager
to depart. He shook his head negatively. "We must get to our own
headquarters here to seek food and lodgings for the night. If we hurry, we may
be on time for evening meal. Good eve, Brother Giles. I shall endeavor to drop
by for a visit in the next few days." He stared after Gabrielle’s
departing figure and added a bit disappointedly, "Tell the lady good-bye
for me."

"Most certainly."

"She was injured in the attack," Lucien informed his
black and white cloaked friend. "You probably should have one of your
physicians look at her shoulder. She received treatment at your hospice in
Jericho. Oh, and this is your wagon. Your brethren in Jericho loaned it to
us."

Brother Giles de Chancery nodded as Lucien swung up onto the
big black Arabian horse his Templar brothers had led into the city. If his eyes
had not deceived him, he had seen a spark of interest between Lady de Châtillon
and Lucien de Aubric. Considering the lady's troubled life, the Hospitaller
wondered where that might lead. Certainly, she could use a guardian angel a bit
more temporal than those found in God's heavenly domain.

+++

Gabrielle stood in front of a silk merchant's stall at one of
the busiest marketplaces in Jerusalem the following week, in a dilemma over
which color fabric to purchase. Turning to her personal friend and household
steward, she held up each length of cloth to ask his opinion. His attention was
directed elsewhere, though, and she followed his line of vision. Two Templars
were coming down the lane toward them. Their tall broad shouldered bodies were
clothed all in white, and neither wore any head covering. Because of it,
Gabrielle immediately recognized Brother Lucien de Aubric and his companion
from the other day.

They were an impressive sight in their billowing white
mantles. Amidst the earth-tone colors that surrounded them, they stood out
markedly. The crimson crosses over their hearts were brilliant against their
white surcoats. The polished iron spurs on their leather boots caught the
sunlight, glinting like sparks at their feet. Templar broadswords hugged their
hips, sheathed in undecorated leather scabbards.